DEVOTION
2ND SAMUEL
NO FEAR, ONLY HOPE
2 Sam 13:30-39
30 While they were on their way,
the report came to David: "Absalom has struck down all the king's sons;
not one of them is left." 31 The king stood up, tore his clothes and lay
down on the ground; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. 32
But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, said, "My lord should not
think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been
Absalom's expressed intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar.
33 My lord the king should not be concerned about the report that all the
king's sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead." 34 Meanwhile, Absalom had fled.
Now the man standing watch looked up and saw many people on the road west of
him, coming down the side of the hill. The watchman went and told the king,
"I see men in the direction of Horonaim, on the side of the hill." 35 Jonadab said to the king, "See, the
king's sons are here; it has happened just as your servant said." 36 As he
finished speaking, the king's sons came in, wailing loudly. The king, too, and
all his servants wept very bitterly. 37 Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of
Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But King David mourned for his son every day. 38
After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years. 39 And the
spirit of the king longed to go to Absalom, for he was consoled concerning
Amnon's death.
NIV
One FDR once said that we have
nothing to fear but fear itself. It appears that David was filled with fear that
all his sons were dead, and he acted on his fear, rather than on hope. Of course,
he was acting on false information, without any investigation of his own.
However, David’s brother was thinking more clearly about Absalom’s
intent to kill Amnon for having raped his sister. As it turned out, the rest of
David’s sons showed up; however, David mourned the loss of Amnon, as did the
other sons. But our story is about this fear of the worst without having hope
in the Lord and knowing the truth. We are told many times throughout the Word
of God not to be afraid, not to have fear, or live with fear. Although we are
told the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that word fear means reverence,
not being afraid of God. People who reject Jesus ought to be afraid of God;
however, they even reject God or his existence. We, on the other hand, have
accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and therefore we should not be living in
fear, for that is the opposite of hope. David’s fear was without hope, but we
live with hope because we know the Lord and we have the guarantor, the Holy
Spirit, dwelling within, influencing our hearts, as well as doing this transformational
work within us, so that we will live more like Jesus. Hope dispenses with fear.
The two cannot live compatible with each other; we either serve the Lord, or
we serve fear, which comes from self, or the self-concern, as David was
concerned about himself, now having no sons. When Jesus appeared to his
disciples as they were fighting the winds and waves and showed himself to them, they were afraid
because they thought he was a ghost. He told them not to be afraid, it was He,
and when Jesus climbed into the boat, everything became calm. In another account,
Peter asked Jesus to bid him to come, and Jesus told Peter to come to him, and
that is when Peter walked on the water, until he looked at his circumstances
and fear set in, but Jesus was there to lift him up. Fear is a horrible way to
live, but it cannot co-exist with hope. Occasionally, we will see in the back
window of a pickup a “No fear” decal. Although it has nothing to do with hope
in the Lord, let us keep another slogan in our hearts and minds. “No Fear, only
hope.”
No comments:
Post a Comment